We’re beginning to realize that we never know what we’re going to see on our daily walks. Last week, as we were making a turn on the path, I noticed something (I wasn’t quite sure what at first) moving around, slightly peeking in an out of a hollow tree.
As we drew closer to the tree, Michael and I slowed down so as not to startle the critter and to get a better look at just what it was. If you guessed a squirrel, you would be correct. This little fella wasn’t the least bit scared of us, so I was able to snap off a few shots of him (or her), slowly coming out of its hiding place.
I was able to get one last shot of this cutie coming out of the tree, stopping for a brief second, before he decided to scamper off.
About the images. I used my Samsung Galaxy 20 Note and only did a little editing in Photoshop. A quick haze removal, slight saturation adjustment and some cropping is all these photos needed. I was surprised that I didn’t need to add any sharpness (except for the feature photo) after cropping.
Our walks are fun and as I mentioned earlier, we never know what we’ll see/discover.
We were out and about last Saturday heading into Historic Newnan, Georgia. There are beautiful, historic homes lining each side of the street as you head into town. As we approached a 4-way stop I looked to my right and saw this beautiful, unusual looking tree. It almost looks like a cross between a spider and a hand, don’t you think? I couldn’t resist snapping a photo, but my camera was in the backseat! Oh well, time to use the cell phone camera (Samsung Galaxy).
I did a little research on the house in the background and as it turns out it is the McRitchie-Hollis Museum. A beautiful, 1937 Neoclassical Home which was eventually purchased in late 2000 by the city of Newnan, Georgia and became the McRitchie-Hollis Museum. We didn’t have time to stop and explore, but from their web page it looks like a wonderful place to visit and learn about the city of Newnan.
This week Anne has us focusing on “filling the frame.” Why? As Anne reminds us “when you fill the frame with your subject, you eliminate various background distractions. The viewer’s eyes have nowhere to wander. Their attention is where you want it.” She provides many wonderful examples of “filling the frame” so be sure to read her post here.
I use this technique many, many times in my photography. My archives are full of examples, and it was hard to pick a few, but here it goes.
Oftentimes, I’m intentional with “filling the frame,” especially when it comes to wildlife and nature photography. In the photos below, I included portions of the background to better highlight the subject. This may go against the thought of removing distractions, but as Anne reminds us photography is subjective.
Bee Pollenating on Rododendron
“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” ~When Harry Met Sally
Filling the frame can also come in handy when shooting weddings. It’s a perfect way to capture the little details from the day.
In this photo, I purposely pulled together the elements in order to capture the memory of the invitation, shoes, earrings and bouquet. The invitation may get tucked away in a scrapbook, her shoes will probably never be worn again, and the flowers will fade away, but the photo gives her one single lasting memory of all that went into planning her wedding.
When I photograph weddings or other portraits I will start with the full subject and crop the images in editing to fill the frame with the appropriate details. I’m always looking for the “picture within the picture.”
Take the photo on the left I love the sweet moment of the groom taking the bride’s hand as she overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountain Range. But what was even more special was when I cropped in on their hands. You capture the feeling of the groom’s strong hand delicately holding his bride’s hand.
The next photo was a special prayer moment between the bride and bridesmaids. I was blessed to be able to photograph my niece’s wedding and just before the ceremony began, she and her bridesmaids circled up for a prayer. It was a sweet moment, and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of them all holding hands.
In this example, there are two (2) “pictures in a picture.” In one photo, I cropped her wedding dress. Don’t you just love the detail of the delicate applique and the laced up back with satin bow? It’s something the viewer would have noticed if I hadn’t cropped the photo.
In the other photo, I cropped in on the bride’s right hand holding her matron of honor’s hand. Her matron of honor was her sister. Can’t you just “feel” the love and pride the bride’s sister has for her?
“Why am I using a new putter? Because the old one didn’t float so well.”
~Craig Stadler, Professional Golfer
I’ll end with one last example of “filling the frame” from my days of shooting golf tournaments. This was a fun one of all the golf carts lined up waiting for the tournament to start. Fore!!!!!
Thank you, Anne for inviting us to explore “filling the frame.” It was and fun and interesting way of exploring how I use this technique with my photos.
Be sure to join us next week when James of Jazzibee will guest host and present our next challenge. Be sure to look for his post.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.
For those of you who have been following me for a while, you may remember a post from a few years back titled For the Love of Photography “The Accidental Sunflower Garden” . The post was about two (2) beautiful sunflowers growing wild in our backyard thanks to a few leftovers from our backyard critters. They were so much fun to photograph that summer. One photo even managed to make its way into my Etsy Shop as both a greeting card and matted print.
So, you can image my delight when the same thing happened this year! Lucky for me, this time they were growing on the lower section of our yard and within easy reach of my macro lens.
When I discovered them, there were three (3) scraggly little stalks each growing at different heights. From a distance they weren’t much to look at except for a few buds and one (1) bright yellow flower standing tall with its face pointing towards the morning sun.
As I moved closer to the tallest stalk, I noticed the brightest flower was surrounded by a few other buds each waiting for their chance to shine.
Macro photography of a sunflower
Macro photography of a Sunflower
Rain droplets on the Sunflower petals
Clearly, the sunflowers had another purpose in their short lives. The garden insects quickly found them and began to nourish on their sweet nectar and delicate petals.
Green bug devouring the Sunflower petals
Fortunately for me, the bees didn’t seem to mind my camera lens snooping around them.
Bumble Bees gathering nectar
But my favorite shot is the one below with the detail of the disk florets beginning to take shape. Don’t you just love the geometric shape growing from the middle outward?
Disk Florets beginning to take shape
It’s been a few weeks now and the flowers are beginning to shrivel up and the stalks are slowly drooping towards the ground. I’ll miss my little sunflower garden once the blooms have all faded away. Hopefully, if they’re left undisturbed, they’ll dissolve into the earth and will come back bigger, stronger and brighter next year!
Donna Robinson Photography 